From July 2011 to May 2014, he was the Union Cabinet Minister for Tribal Affairs and Panchayati Raj.

He belongs to the Konda Dora scheduled tribe community, and is from a family of tribal hill chiefs.

Deo was a member of the Lok Sabha representing the Araku (ST) constituency (for 2009-2014) in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.

He has been a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) which is the highest decision-making body of the party.

[3] Deo is the author of the book Changing India's Political Mould, published in 1993.